Has anyone had anything interesting happen to them on the road? The worst for me was not a big deal,just funny. Someone threw and hit me with a chicken bone. Thankfully they weren't eating anything bigger.

Ahh commuting..

I have had a few odd things happen on my commute, one that sticks out in my mind was when two college age girls drove by in a nice SUV and decided to squirt water on me as they passed... luckly for me they cought a red light just a block away, and i had a nice full bottle of water with me, or so i thought! I slowly came up next to them and gave a big squirt of gator aid right in the girls face, opps, i seriously thought it was water! As soon as i noticed the "water" was red, i ran the red light, and got lost ASAP, i didnt want them to run me over or anything crazy, but im sure they wont squirt the next cyclist they see on the roads!

Futile Roadrage

A couple of years ago I was riding across the city to work. I was approaching a major intersection and the light turned amber so I stopped as it turned red. There was this car behind me. I could hear him trying to accelerate to run the yellow light but I got in his way. He turned into a classic road-rage case. He opened his window and started screaming at me. I nudged my bike over to block him a little more. This guy just screamed at me with the usual get off the road comments. It was like a commercial against roadrage or something. I had a big stupid grin on my face. Pedestrians walked by, some startled, others snickering. I keep my trusty kryptonite close. Luckily for this guy he never got outa his car. I've had angry motorists before but this guy was extraordinary. Woulda' made an awesome public service announcement.
Anyhow. A couple km's down the road I passed him and glared in his window so he could see me as he sat on his angry butt in a traffic jam.
T'was strange.

Psycho driver

Last week I had some imbecile accelerate like mad to get to an intersection where I already was in what I am convinced was an attempt to wipe me out completely. I saw him coming, got the hell out of there just in time to hear him smash into a signpost. It's just a pity that this guy's vehicle didn't burst into flames on impact.

I lived in France for a while, and I got into the habit of biking down into Nice from my home in Vence... the ride in was 20km, or about 12 miles, and ALL downhill. Do you like rollercoasters? You'd love this ride. (The ride back home was a bit of a chore, though. 20km, straigh UP.)

Anyway, one cool November Friday morning I was sailing along to work, and I passed what appeared to be a blue, zippered, bank-deposit style bag, lying by the roadside. I stopped, figured "what the h*ll," and pedaled back uphill to the bag.

It WAS a bank deposit bag, soggy wet from the previous evening's storm. It was zipped and locked, so I... errr... sort of sliced it open with my penknife. Inside was 1200FF, or about $200(US) at the time, in soaking wet 100 & 200FF notes. No deposit or ATM slip, no ID. I supposed that someone had drawn the money out for a weekend's partying, laid the bag atop their car, got distracted, and drove away...

Interesting commutes

I've been bike commuting to work for about 7 years, from the suburbs of Washington, D.C. into the city. Over the years, I've seen a totally naked guy on a bike path; ran over a squirrel who ran in front of my tires; had a HUGE raccoon cross my path; found a lady's wallet and was able to call her and return it; biked in the intense heat and freezing cold, through hurricane winds, sleet, downpours and lightning, to name a few rides. I find spare change on the road almost daily. So, it's always interesting! Best way to get to and fro - no stress!

This one's really weird

This didn't happen during a commute, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. I was doing a Sunday ride a few weeks ago, when some guy drove past waving one of those blow-up dolls at me. I didn't say anything because I was too busy laughing hysterically at the time, but what I wanted to say was: "Can I take her home when you're done?"

Road Shopping

I commute to and from work and I work in an industrial area. I find all sorts of things on the way, but the best things are the rubber bungies that have come off the trucks. I pick them up and share them with the guys I know that have ladders on their trucks and are always looking for them.

snake

This morning I rode over a decent sized snake that lay dead in the middle of the bike lane on a busy multi-lane road. Didn't see it until the last minute because it was pretty dark out...I guess he bit the dust sometime last night. When I ran over the thing it moved like it was still alive and scared the bejezus out of me.

This didn't happen during a commute, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. I was doing a Sunday ride a few weeks ago, when some guy drove past waving one of those blow-up dolls at me. I didn't say anything because I was too busy laughing hysterically at the time, but what I wanted to say was: "Can I take her home when you're done?"

Chris

eeewwwwwwwww...

Monsignor: We must always fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil that we must fear the most, and that is the indifference of good men. Connor: I do believe the monsignor's finally got the point. Murphy: Aye.

I was riding down a 40mph NOL road when it was 118F and full sun. I was near the end of my 9mi commute. I started hearing voices. A metallic, tinny, disembodied voice coming from nowhere and everywhere doing a non stop TdF/Nascar type race play by play "and he's coming down the final stretch" etc. At first I thought I was hallucinating.

After a bit I realized it was coming from the car behind me, a grill mount loudspeaker system with a couple kids having fun. They were following respectfully, but kept it up for ~1/2mi. Eventually they passed and gave the thumbs up. It was all fun.

A bunch of the guys I worked with in the USMC were given tickets at lunch one day... The MP's Clocked em' doing 70+ in a 35 zone (going down hill leaving a housing area)... The Base magistrate threw it out... And told the MP he was an idiot... They all lived in base housing, and could have lost their homes (they kick you out of houseing when you get a big ticket in a housing area). They were freaking out for a few days, but after the hearing they laughed about it.

I was riding down a 40mph NOL road when it was 118F and full sun. I was near the end of my 9mi commute. I started hearing voices. A metallic, tinny, disembodied voice coming from nowhere and everywhere doing a non stop TdF/Nascar type race play by play "and he's coming down the final stretch" etc. At first I thought I was hallucinating.

After a bit I realized it was coming from the car behind me, a grill mount loudspeaker system with a couple kids having fun. They were following respectfully, but kept it up for ~1/2mi. Eventually they passed and gave the thumbs up. It was all fun.

Al

This isn't from a bike...but sort of like your post - in my car, I have an XM satellite radio that uses an FM modulator to broadcast 'inside' the car, to work with the factory stereo. Problem is, lots of other people have them too, so when I've got my unit off, and just listening to the NPR station (that sits on that frequency), I'll get a sudden earful of Howard Stern - never anyone else...it seems like all the Sirius subscribers use FM modulators...AND my frequency.

Since I'm not a Howard fan, I'll get back at them. Since my FM modulator is hard-wired to the car, it's fairly powerful....and can be heard about 100 feet away or more in another car. So, when I hear Howard Stern, it's time for me to turn on my XM unit to....XM Kids....or worse, the Broadway channel. Give 'em an earful.

I was riding down a 40mph NOL road when it was 118F and full sun. I was near the end of my 9mi commute. I started hearing voices. A metallic, tinny, disembodied voice coming from nowhere and everywhere doing a non stop TdF/Nascar type race play by play "and he's coming down the final stretch" etc. At first I thought I was hallucinating.

After a bit I realized it was coming from the car behind me, a grill mount loudspeaker system with a couple kids having fun. They were following respectfully, but kept it up for ~1/2mi. Eventually they passed and gave the thumbs up. It was all fun.

I've been watching this possum decay for a couple weeks. It is right on the line between the bike lane and the 1st of 4 traffic + 1 turn lanes on this road. Right now, the part into the traffic part is gone, smeared into the pavement and tires. The part on the bike lane is losing flesh but still has many non skeletal parts.

Has anyone had anything interesting happen to them on the road? The worst for me was not a big deal,just funny. Someone threw and hit me with a chicken bone. Thankfully they weren't eating anything bigger.

It may not have been intentional cause I have a story about a chicken bone. Once I was in a train with a woman eating a chicken leg. She finished eating and tossed it out the window - and at exact same time there appeared a train travelling on parallel tracks in the opposite direction! The machinist's window was open and for the split second that it was in our view, we saw the chicken bone fly right into the window! I do have to say it was rather hilarious.

There I was; riding down scenic drive in El Paso TX (a steep twisty mountainside downhill) on the way to work at Ft Bliss when I looked in my rearveiw and saw a redneck pickup with a a giant trailer trying to pass me at over 30 MPH! As more of the trailer came into a veiw I could see some kind of spare tire apperatus sticking out even farther. At the last second I shifted just enough to the right to avoid certain problems. At the bottom of the hill sat a traffic light where I caught him. I accused him trying to kill me. He apologized profusely which didn't sit right with my mood of indignation so I told hime his trailer was a piece of %@$#. I felt better after that.

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure. Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)

Oh! A couple weeks ago I was divebombing down my favorite street to divebomb down when I noticed no cars were passing. Strange, I thought. I looked back and saw a cute girl in a Civic (yay Honda!) pacing me. When we got to the light at the bottom of that stretch, I tipped my helmet at her. She applauded.

Here is one of my more humorous stories. I was commuting for a while with my things in an open-top grocery pannier, and last summer, those things included my lunch as well as spare underwear (briefs) and socks for after my shower at work. I had a green light all to myself cruising downhill to an intersection, but as I got to it, I hit a bump and things came flying out of my pannier. Luckily, they landed in the middle of the lane I had been in, but short of the intersection itself, and there still wasn't much traffic around. I was able to do a U-turn after I cleared the intersection and go back the other way to pick things up. As I approached the area, a cute young woman started across the street on foot, evidently having seen it happen. She picked up and handed my the socks, then, to my surprise, the briefs! I forget what we said, just some noncommittal small talk, then we went on our way. But I enjoyed telling everyone (even my wife) that "a cute younger woman handed me my underwear this morning".

Still, I no longer use the open top pannier as my primary carrier.

Originally Posted by MadfiNch on Commuting forum

What's the point of a bike if you can only ride it on weekends, and you can't even carry anything with you?!